BOONE, NORTH CAROLINA (ANS) -- In what is being described as possibly the world’s deadliest storm of the 21st century, Cyclone Nargis swept through Myanmar affecting what the United Nations estimates to be 1 million people.

Boone, North Carolina-based international Christian relief organization Samaritan’s Purse has staff members on the ground in Rangoon, Myanmar’s capital city. Two of these relief workers are water and sanitation experts.

In addition to the staff already in Myanmar, Samaritan's Purse is assembling an emergency team from six countries to respond as soon as the government opens the borders to relief agencies.

The team includes experts in food, agriculture, and livestock. Heavy flooding and rains continue to displace people, increasing the number of survivors that need immediate shelter and clean water. Many of the survivors reside in Myanmar's poorest provinces where most families live on less than a dollar a day. It is expected that food will be a long-term problem because vast rice-growing areas - a main source of food sustenance - were destroyed.

"During a natural disaster of this magnitude, clean water is essential to preventing outbreaks of cholera and other contagious diseases caused by contaminated drinking water," said Ken Isaacs, vice-president of Projects & Government Relations for Samaritan's Purse.

"We have seen the devastation a storm like this can cause and our immediate concern is equipping survivors with clean water and shelter. The people of Myanmar need our help and prayers," said Franklin Graham, President and CEO Samaritan’s Purse.

Samaritan's Purse is an international Christian relief organization that provides immediate, no-red-tape response to the physical and spiritual needs of individuals in crisis situations - especially in locations where few others are working. Through its various projects including World Medical Mission, Children’s Heart Project and Operation Christmas Child, Samaritan's Purse is working in more than 100 countries to provide aid to victims of war, disease, disaster, poverty, famine and persecution.

To donate to Myanmar relief efforts visit www.samaritanspurse.org  or call 1-828-262-1980.

** Michael Ireland, Chief Correspondent of ANS, is an international British freelance journalist who was formerly a reporter with a London newspaper and has been a frequent contributor to UCB Europe, a British Christian radio station. Michael's involvement with ASSIST News Service is a sponsored ministry department -- Michael Ireland Media Missionary (MIMM) -- of ACT International at: Artists in Christian Testimony (ACT) International.